Chores with the Corporal
by Asahina Banana
Summary: Right after the success of the Trost district operation, Commander Pixis wants to clean up the district with the aide of the remaining soldiers alive. Petra is somehow chosen to be in one group with the clean freak leader of her unit, Corporal Levi. No matter how considerate she is as a person, cleaning up with the Corporal is much more challenging than killing a titan.. COMPLETED.
1. First Part

_DISCLAIMERS: _I do not own any of the characters here. Everything belongs to Isayama Hajime.

(Note: Rivaille is written as 'Levi' is because I followed the official romanization from the author.)

A few hours after the success on defending Trost from these gigantic beasts known as the 'titans', Commander Pixis began to have a few thoughts going on inside his head. This came up when he was slouching on a chair, facing directly to the landscape of Trost. What was once a beautiful district instantly downgraded into a chaotic dump filled with rubbles of every size. The commander with bald head frowned as he gazed upon this scenery.

"How unfortunate is this district... I wish I can fix this and make it inhabitable again." He murmured to himself. All of a sudden, a spark ignited within him and he jolted from his chair. The commander had came up with a new operation—which was to utilize everyone in the area during their day off, including people from the Recon Corps, the Stationary Guards, and the rookies from the trainees' squads.

A young female with short, copper brown hair stretched her arms upon waking up. It was sunrise, and obviously nobody was awake yet. Not after that bone-crunching operation yesterday. The petite figure jumped down from the top bunk and her foot landed a few centimetres next to her comrade's face. This small house was the only emergency base for the Recon Cops in this district, so they had to cram around 30 surviving members here. The rest stayed in unoccupied neighbouring houses. Thankfully, this base was still intact and it had two floors, which helped everyone to feel less like a canned sardine here.

The girl swiftly tiptoed over her comrades' unmoved bodies and quietly opened the door leading to the small hallway of the first floor. As she head across the stairs to the bathroom, an unfamiliar figure descended from the stairs. He looked slightly startled as he caught sight of the girl. However, he remained his composure and nod at her. The girl nodded back at him.

"Good morning, Corporal. And here I thought I was the only one awake at this hour." She greeted him with a smile.

"...Just Levi is fine, Petra. And good morning to you too." He replied. There was an awkward silence that follows, but Petra quickly came up with something to say.

"Uhh, so, Cor—I mean, Levi, are you...Umm...Going to the bathroom too?"

"_Oh my goodness, what on Earth did I just ask the Corporal about?! Bathroom? That's just stupid, Petra!" _Petra's inner voice said, and she winced at the thought of it. The Corporal is such a serious person, and this is such a stupid thing to ask to someone of his kind.

Levi shook his head in response. "I'm going to the storage room, to check out if we had any spare equipments left. We have to be prepared for emergency orders anytime now."

"Ahh, I see. Well, I don't want to prolong you, so I'll be going first. Good day to you, Levi." Petra said, heading to the bathroom. Once she entered the bathroom, she was extremely relieved. Even though she had known Levi for years now, engaging in a proper conversation with him had always been the ultimate challenge for her. He was such a reserved and stoic person. Plus, nobody had never seen him smile or laugh. Not even once. Levi might be an excellent fighter and a great leader, but he really needed to fix his demeanor in front of other people.

Petra took a pail of water from the small, wooden bathtub on the corner of the small bathroom. She cupped her hands into the pail and splashed her face with ice cold water. Her feeble hands tingled upon the freezing sensation. Quickly, she repeated the action for a few more times until there was no more water left in the pail. The thought of taking a bath after crossed her mind, but she decided that she needed to save the remaining water for her comrades. Being selfish is the last attitude you should display when you're a soldier anyway.

As she exited the bathroom, apparently a couple of her comrades were already awake. They were all yawning and stretching all over the place, all still looking beaten up. All of them still wore their uniform, and some of them were badly tattered. Behind those ripped off clothes, Petra could see the wounds inflicted from yesterday's deadly battle. It was not a pretty sight, but she was used to it. Thankfully this time she was not wounded heavily, just a few minor scratches on her leg.

A comrade from her unit, the Special Operations Squad greeted her. His name was Gunter Shulz, the second-in-command in the S.O.S.

"Good morning, Petra! How are you doing?"

"I'm fine! Thank you for asking, Gunter. How is your leg? Did it heal properly?"

Gunter chuckled. "Thankfully, yeah! It still hurts, but I'm sure I can still ride a horse with it."

"That's good to hear. So... Why are so many people already awake? It was only me and Corporal who are up 10 minutes ago."

"Well, Hanji dramatically fell from the bed and elbowed Auruo's chest, which made him choke so hard... Obviously that caused quite a ruckus in the room."

"Ahahaha, that's Hanji for you. Oh, are the cadetes awake yet? I haven't seen them anywhere in the hallway..."

"Nope, still snoozing off." Gunter said, shaking his head. "Especially that titan boy. Eren Jaeger, wasn't it? Chief Irvin said that he and his friends are nowhere near being conscious."

"Must've been tough for them, going through all this..." Petra sighed. "Oh well, just let them rest then. They did a good job."

"Sure they did! Oh, Petra? I'm going to the kitchen for a bit. I'm gonna salvage the leftover canned foods. I'm so hungry right now!"

Her face instantly glowed in happiness. "Let me tag along! My stomach's been growling since forever, actually."

Both of them went to the kitchen and checked out the cupboards lined up neatly against the wall. Petra had to scavenge from the lower cupboards, due to her petite figure. So far, she only found some expired canned beef and a few dead rodents. Just when she was about to give up, her eyes landed on the sight two new cans of beans.

"Gunter! I found some food for us!" She exclaimed, without looking at him. "Gunter? What's wrong?"

"Uhh, Petra, the Corporal's here..."

"W-wha? I-I'm sorry C—YAHHH!" Petra screamed as her head hit the top of the cupboard. She rubbed the small bump on her head and stood up to the sight of Levi frowning and crossing his arms.

"C-Corporal! I deeply apologize for my irresponsible action! I was not going to steal food or anything! You have my word!"

Levi grunted. "Apology accepted. Besides, I'm not here to reprimand the both of you. Commander Pixis' messenger had personally told me that he wants everyone left from Recon Corps in this area to leave and head to the wall in 20 minutes. Your job will be to inform this to the rest of remaining soldiers here. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-yes, sir!" The two reply in unison, with their right hand balled up on their right chest. Levi left the kitchen afterwards, which all of a sudden triggered grumpy Gunter.

"Urrghh I am really not in the mood to do this. I'm still hungry..."

"Neither do I, actually... Well, the Commander's orders are absolute. I can go wake all the cadets up and you can go wake up the rest next door. Sounds good?" Petra said.

He nodded in agreement. "Alright! You're better with kids anyways."

"What's that supposed to mean, Gunter?" She pouted.

"N-nothing in particular, really. Okay then, we should not be dilly-dallying here! Let's go!"

Petra then went upstairs to the first room out of the three rooms on the top floor. It took her around 10 minutes to wake up all cadets inside this room, including Jaeger and his prodigy lady friend, Ackerman. Luckily, the rest in the other rooms weren't particularly dozed off, so she and the cadets could actually arrive at the wall on time.

"Good morning, soldiers. I see that you have all received my orders and are all present here on time. Good job!" The Commander said, as his voice echoed throughout the crowd of soldiers. "Now, fellow soldiers, look behind you. Don't you see how wrecked this district is?"

Petra took a glance behind her, and indeed the district was in a big mess. Houses were all destroyed, rubbles and planks were in all sorts of places, and the smell of decay from the corpses was still extremely pungent here. The other soldiers began to murmur things too, and sharing disgusted glances at each other.

"Silence, soldiers!" Commander Pixis barked. "Now, now, you all have take a good look on this district right? Who do you think are faulty for this mess?"

"The titans sir!" One soldier yelled amongst the crowd.

"Are you sure, young man? We are the ones who attacked them, and our methods of combat have been extremely destructive on this district. Indeed, we are not to be fully blamed for this. But aren't we actually indirectly causing all this?"

The Commander's words somehow made sense to Petra and some other soldiers as well. She could see some soldiers actually nodding in agreement and some having guilty looks on their faces.

Of course, there are always two sides to the coin, so many others do not agree with this. As the waves of arguments come clashing from one to the other, all of a sudden Hanji raised her hand and asked a question.

"So, Commander, what do you suggest we should do? Clean up this place?"

A huge grin was showed up the Commander's face. "Exactly! I don't think it's an impossible task with more than 200 capable soldiers here. We can't do anything about moving the huge rubbles yet, but we can clean up all the houses, right?"

"EEEEHH?!" The soldiers exclaimed. Upon hearing the word 'clean up', there was only one person Petra had in mind—her team leader, the clean freak Corporal Levi. She scanned the crowd for his figure, and to her disbelief—she saw a slight upward curve on his lips.

"W-what...Did the Corporal just smile..." Petra murmered to herself, mouth agape.

"Alright, that's enough!" The Commander barked again, snapping Petra out from her state of shock.

"Soldiers, you heard me! Yes, we are going to clean this place up with all remaining cleaning equipments left inside the storage rooms underground! Extra equipments will be delivered by noon. Oh, and you all are going to be divided by groups of 4. There should be two senior soldiers and two cadets in one group. Once your name is called, reconcile with your groups and go to work. Irvin, would you please read the group division for me please?"

The tall, refined, blonde-haired man stepped up beside Commander Pixis and began reading the names from a book that the Commander gave earlier. Petra was about to doze off when finally her name was being read.

"Group 65: Levi! Petra Ral! Armin Arlert! Annie Leondhart!"

She smiled to herself cynically upon her group members being announced. "O-oh well, if fate decides this... Ahahah..."

"What's wrong, Petra-san?" A young, feminime boy said as he approached her. "Corporal Levi is already heading out to a house on that corner, so shouldn't we go too?"

"Alright then. Thanks for informing, Armin. Let's go now, shall we? Oh, and where's Annie?"

"She went to the storage compartment to get some stuffs, I think. Okay then, let's get going!"

No matter how kind and patient she was as a person, Petra was absolutely pessimistic about cleaning houses alongside Levi. He was the type who'd get angry over one speck of dust or complain about how pathetic someone's cleaning methods are.

"Goodness gracious, God please bless me... I'd rather fight a 20m class titan than cleaning houses together with the Corporal..."

_**Author's Comments**_

Hello I am back from an extremely long hiatus =w='' Sorry if my writing skills has perhaps detoriate... I'll try my best to improve next time! Oh, and don't worry, the fun parts are on the next chapter. So tune in!


	2. Second Part

_*Extra notes: Sorry I made a few mistakes with the details in the story! Doc updated.*_

As Petra and Armin entered the house, both of them were shocked to see how messy it was. There seem to be two floors here, and the first floor itself was absolutely wrecked. A huge block of wooden pole from the roof was vertically stuck on the middle of the house, blocking the way to enter the kitchen door behind it. Holes were seen everywhere on the rooftop, and of course, don't forget all the rubbles and dust within the first floor. Petra grimaced upon the thought of her visualization of the top floor.

"Woah, look at this mess... This is a lot to clean up, isn't it, Petra-san?" Armin asked.

"I couldn't agree more, Armin. Well, we do need to take responsibility for the mess we made during the operation. But don't worry though! As your senior, I'll make sure our group gets the job done! I'll help you with anything you need!" Petra replied, with a forced smile on her face. Helping her juniors clean was not a big deal, but it was—

"Petra. Could you come upstairs now?"

Speaking of the devil, and here he is. The beloved clean freak Corporal of the Special Operations Squad. His head was looming over the stairs on the top. Petra could see that he was prepared for this job beforehand, with the ridiculous headband and the apron over his petite build. God knows where he got his broom or extra cloth too.

With all the effort from her face muscles, she was able to face the Corporal with another extremely obvious forced smile. It was only during times like this that she had to force a smile for him. "What is it, Corporal?"

"I need you to give me a hand in cleaning over here." Levi ordered.

"Alright, Corporal. But I need to wait for Annie to bring in the cleaning supplies here..."

"What did I say?" He groaned. "Come upstairs now. Don't worry about the equipments, I have spare for you."

The Corporal's naggy attitude somehow startled Petra for a bit. She tried her best not to express that on her face. "Very well, Corporal. Uhh, Armin, I guess I'll go up for a bit. You can wait for Annie and start cleaning the bottom floor right away, okay?"

The male cadet nodded. "Okay, Petra-san. What do you want us to do about this pole in the middle though?"

"Mmm, I think you should just leave it be for a while. The Corporal and I will think about something later." She said, immediately rushing up the stairs. _Nobody wants to see the Corporal mad, right?_

Thankfully, the second floor was left in a 'better' state compared to the first. But, there were definitely much more holes in the floor. Petra suspected that the foreign objects might have came crushing down from the roof, and everything ended up stuck downstairs.

"Corporal, shouldn't we fix the holes in the floor first before cleaning them up?" She asked nervously. The Corporal immediately shot a glare at her.

"I told you, just Levi is fine. And no, the extra supplies are coming this afternoon. It'd be such a waste of time if we'd stay put. This house doesn't clean by itself, Petra. Besides..."

"Besides...?"

He replied, looking a bit embarassed. "You know I'm incapable of doing jobs like that."

_Holy mother of cow. What did I just see. That's way too much emotions from the Corporal. _Petra thought, somehow frightened that there might be a loose screw from the Corporal today. Nevertheless, she attempted to remain as her usual self.

She hesitantly said, "Ahahah, you have a point, Cor—umm, Levi. So uhh... I don't have the cloth and water to clean the floor."

"I have it there." Levi pointed at a spot right next to a door. "Ah, I have a proposition to make. You and I should just clean the rooms that are still intact first. That way we can save time better. And we can avoid cleaning the destroyed areas twice."

"That's a really good solution, Levi. Alright then, I'll be cleaning this room over here." Petra said. While she was picking up the bucket and the cloth, she noticed that Levi went inside the room she picked earlier.

"L-Levi? Shouldn't you be cleaning the other room? I think it'd be much more efficient if we split our jobs..."

"Who are you to order me, Petra?" Levi snapped back. "I have the rights to choose where I want to be. And I want to be here. Any problems?"

Petra shook her head groggily. "No, sir! No problems at all!"

"Hmph." Was the last thing he said, before vanishing into the room. Petra followed him into the room reluctantly, as she was left with no options.

The interior of this tiny room was left in mint condition, except for a few small holes on the floor. A single bed lies on the corner of the room, complemented by a small, wooden bedside table on the left. A small, simple photo frame rested on top of it. Inside it was a picture of a middle-aged woman and her three girls, all smiling gleefully. The picture left a bittersweet feeling within Petra. Most of her family members were already deceased way back before the titans reappeared. The only one alive was her dad at that point in time, and currently she knew nothing where he was after this chaos happened.

"Get back to your job." Levi ordered, snapping Petra out of her thoughts.

"A-ah, I apologize, Levi."

Petra knelt down and dragged the bucket filled with water towards her. She inserted a piece of cloth into it, squeezed the excess water and attempted to mop the broken floor with extreme caution. In her head, she had no idea why the Corporal would actually ask her to mop this battered up floor. Plus, this room did not belong to an emperor, and it'd be much more efficient if she cleaned another room by herself.

_Well none of the reasons made sense... Could it be... The Corporal wanted to be with me...?_

Upon this thought, Petra spontaneously flushed. This kind of idea never crossed her mind in a thousand years, and she shook her head in disagreement with her delirious mind. In the midst of her confusion, Petra's right hand accidentally reached for a hole on the floor. She almost plummeted to the first floor as gravity pulled her upper body down—but a strong force yanked her up back to safety.

She felt a tight grasp around her left wrist, so tight to the point that it hurts. A lot. Up she looked at, and Petra saw a terrified look reflected from the Corporal's face. Again, this was a first for her. Never did she saw the cold-hearted Corporal so terrified before. Even before the mightiest of the titans, he had never faltered and never given in to fear. But not this time. Nope.

"What on earth are you doing?! That was really stupid, Petra! Extremely stupid! That fall could've cost you your life!" He yelled at her, with a hint of shakiness between each words. Petra was petrified at the intensity of his voice, as this was another first for her. Perhaps the first out of many others to come. The Corporal was always thoughtful of his comrades, but does not show it literally.

"I'm sorry... I wasn't paying much attention." When she wanted to mouth an extra 'thank you for saving me', the Corporal yanked her up again with fulll force and she was brought back to safety. Petra was still petrified after the fall. The hole was actually not that big, but it somehow it was able to fit in her petite figure. She eyed the hole cautiously as she attempted to get back to work, and failed to notice that a pair of eyes were far more intense than hers. These were fully locked on her, watching her every move silently. Her realization upon this matter was slower than expected. Petra turned around and saw that the intensity she felt earlier belonged to obviously one individual—the Corporal's.

"Umm," She said groggily. "W-why are you looking at me like that, Corpo—uhh, Levi? Is there something that I'm doing wrong? Are my methods of cleaning not up to your standards?"

The Corporal shrugged. "Neither. Do I need a reason to do so, even after my childhood friend almost got severely injured?"

"Eh? You remembered?" The question was blurted out of nowhere. A gasp from Petra followed afterwards, and she instantly covered her mouth. A hint of shock from the Corporal's slightly enlarged pupils and twitched eyebrow was visible, albeit his efforts in using a different facade.

The Corporal led out a chuckle afterwards. "My memories are not that dull, y'know."

These two individuals used to be the bestest friends during the times of their youth. It was first initiated by the tight relationship of the heads of their families. Both of their fathers were really good friends, and Petra recalled visiting this huge mansion with a large garden maze within the inner wall. Of course, she did not forget making acquaintances with the boy with clean-cut hair and extremely stern eyes. As a kid, these facial features alone made little Petra terrified. Not to mention his serious facade. Petra told her dad that she would not become friends with Levi, but fate steered her into the other direction.

The first time she actually saw Levi's hidden side was when she was only 7 years old. The story's a bit cliche, but she will always treasure this memory. Back then, Petra loved riding horses. When Levi's family bought a beautiful, white horse, she sneaked off to their stable at night and tried riding it to the field nearby. What she did not know about this horse was that it's not tamed yet. It was fresh from the wild. After a few moments of riding, the horse went ballistic and threw Petra a few feet across the field. The pain across her ribs and legs were so excruciating for a child that she felt she was in the verge of dying. She tried not to scream though, because she was breaking in into someone else's house.

Petra slowly attempted to drag herself home, but her fragile body could not take the pain anymore. As she slowly lost conciousness in the middle of the field, she could her someone calling her name repeatedly.

In a flash, Petra could feel a pair of small arms around her waist. It immediately hoisted her up off the ground. The person who carried her started to walk slowly, as if the person was making sure that she does not experience any additional pain.

The small and frail Petra forced her eyes open to see who this person was. She could not believe her very own eyes. Yes, it was Levi carrying her. His eyes were fixated forward, and his mouth said no words.

She was astounded by this. The boy she thought of as a silent beast was actually out here in the field late at night, carrying her into safety. Yes, from this moment on Petra never saw Levi as his old self. She began to open up to him, and they became really close—until Levi moved out of their neighbourhood out of the blue. No goodbyes, no letters, not even a single word heard from the others about him. The Corporal showed up again in Petra's life after a decade or so, with a much colder attitude. This was the reason she tried not to bring back the past while he's around. She presumed that he had forgotten about their past together and moved on with life. That he changed into a totally different person. That was also why Petra decided to treat Levi as a new individual when they first reconciled again in the Recon Corps.

Then an awkward silence filled the air, before the Corporal asked her a question.

"How about you, Petra? Do you still remember about our past?"

"I always do, in every waking moment. Not trying sounding cheesy or anything, heheh..." She replied with a dry laugh, and continued on mopping the floor.

What Petra didn't see beyond her back was beyond compare. Across Corporal Levi's face was the kindest and most compassionate smile that a man could ever show to a woman.

_**Author's Comments**_

I'm sorry for the really slow update, guys! But here's the 2nd chapter, and I hope you guys enjoy it;; I'm pretty new to the romance genre so I hope this is okay for y'all D:

If things go accordingly, the next chapter should be the last one from this series! Please tune in for chapter 3 /o/


	3. Last Part

"Yep, I'm finished here, Levi!" Petra said, stretching her arms after what seemed like the longest cleaning session of her life. Every muscle of hers was in pain, especially in her back because she was always bending down most of the time. She got up on her legs and placed her arms on her hips, inspecting the results of her hard work. Her face beamed with radiance. She believed she had achieved a satisfactory result, enough to make her Corporal happy.

Too bad for her, though. Her 'inspector' was the meticulous clean-freak Levi. Not even a single speck of dust will escape his sight. Levi frowned as he set his eyes upon a corner of the room, and glared at Petra afterwards. "Tsk, Petra. This is way too early to be satisfied. Look at that of dust on the corner there near the bed. You missed that. Every single speck counts, get it?"

"Y-yes, but…" Petra replied hesitantly, lowering her head in guilt. "This room is going to be patched up again by the other teams, right? It's going to be dirty again and—"

"Do I hear objections from my subordinate?" He snapped at her, and shot another malicious glare at her. Unable to see this coming, every spine in Petra's bones quivered. _He was so nice earlier and all… _

"N-no, sir, no! I'll clean that up right away!" She said, and scrambled to pick up her cleaning equipment again. Petra squatted at the corner of the room, mopping off what seemed as a non-existent speck of dust to her bare eyes. Truthfully, the pains within her were getting worse. The overstretched back. The feeling of numbness on both of her thighs and calves. The splitting sensation inside her head. To top it off, she was just off to an excruciating and gruesome mission yesterday. It lasted for almost a whole day, and it's safe to say Petra had barely any sleep at all. At most, she only slept for 3 hours. Her body was still exhausted, both physically and mentally. For the first couple of hours of today, Petra was still in tip-top shape due to the adrenaline that's left in her. But as time creeps on towards noon, her body could not withstand the constant pressure from this task. Slowly but surely, Petra gave up to the fatigue. She fainted on spot, and the last thing she saw was the cloth dropping from her hands.

"Petra-san! You're awake! Can you hear me?"

As Petra pried her eyes open, a blurry figure of what seemed to be a female with short, blonde hair with a hint of blue eyes loomed over her. The voice does not give off the figure's identity too, making her slightly puzzled. "Yes I can… W-who are you anyways? And where am I?"

"It's Arlert. Armin Arlert. Don't worry, you're still in the same house we're assigned to. It's just that the Corporal carried you downstairs."

"Huh? Lev—The Corporal carried me?!" She exclaimed in shock. "That's impossible... I'm s-sure that's someone else he instructed to carry me here, to this room, right? I-I mean I don't think the Corporal wants his hands dirty—"

"I killed titans with my bare hands, Petra. Of course I don't mind getting my hands 'dirty'." The Corporal stood behind Armin, eyes cold as ice. He dismissed Armin with a hand gesture and the cadet nodded, walking away from the two.

When the door closed with a soft 'thud', Levi's expression soften after he confirmed that he had full privacy with Petra. Petra averted her eyes away from him, trying her best to avoid an awkward situation. She fear that if she smiled, he'll take that as a sign of mockery. _So it's best to_ _pretend that I'm not seeing anything, right?_

"Petra." Only a word came out from his mouth to end the silence. It was her name. Even though he had call her by name countless times, both during and off combat—something seemed different now. There was depth in his voice, with a slight hint of tenderness in his tone. It left quite an impression within her, but that was kept to herself. Her simple and little secret. Perhaps, it could be her new source of happiness.

He then resumed with a simple question. "Are you alright now?"

"Yes I am, Levi. Thank you for asking. Oh, and I think I'm ready to continue working now!" Petra pushed herself to a sitting position. She took a deep breath and made an attempt to jump down the bed—before she was gently pushed down against the bed by a pair of slender, but strong and steady arms. "It's okay, you should rest. I'll take care of the rest."

"But I don't want to abandon my work... Besides, I can't make you do all the cleaning. Please let me go, Levi!" She yelped, attempting to wriggle free from the clutches of the Corporal. Her resistance backfired on her, as Levi pinned her down even harder. He lowered down his head in front of Petra with a grimaced expression. The intensity was undeniable. His face was now really close to hers, until she could feel his breath against her face.

"I beg you, Petra. Please, don't be reckless. I know how hard you fought yesterday. I know how fatigued you are right now. Please, please, I beg you, next time don't force yourself. I don't want that incident in the past to repeat itself again."

Petra could clearly hear how shaky his voice was. Hell, it seemed like he was really serious about it. He was absolutely terrified. This caught her off-guard, as she never expected Levi to actually care about her. To show her this level of affection. She was left speecheless. She finally gave in to his persistence and obediently let her body relax. The Corporal slowly released his grip, hands trembling as he did. He took a deep breath before quickly regaining his composure again.

"I apologize, that was unusual of me. Very well then, I'll take my leave."

She shook her head weakly. "It's okay, Levi. Thank you for actually worrying about me, it's been a while since someone did..."

"I see. It's natural for a leader to at least take notice of the well-being of his subordinates. And by the way..." His words trailed off. Then he knelt beside Petra, whispering in her ear.

"..."

"!"

Levi stood up and left as Petra reacted to his statement with a blush across her face. He feigned a smirk, but somehow she didn't notice it. She was too occupied on her afterthoughts of his words, after all.

"_I don't mind getting my hands dirty for you, Petra."_

The chain of words still echoed in her head, loud and clear. Out of embarassment, she ducked her face under the covers.

"How can Levi say something like that... Nnggh..."

The only female member of the Special Corps drifted off to sleep again, until Armin woke her up with the smell of fresh baked sweet potatoes and a few updates on the current situation.

"So while you're asleep, the Corporal and Annie went to the houses in this block to clean up. So far they cleaned up 3 houses already, and there are around 2 more to go. I helped out for a bit at first too, before the Corporal asked me to give you something to eat for lunch. There's not much left in our emergency provisions, so this is the best I could find for you, Petra-san. Eat these while it's still hot!"

"Thank you, Armin. I appreciate it." Petra replied. The sweet potatoes wrapped in a dull, grey cloth felt warm against her palms. She blew the steam away off them, hoping that it will cool down after a while. When the temperature felt right, Petra dunked her teeth in the soft and mushy potato, not hesitating to rip off a huge chunk of it. Armin seemed astonished at how much this petite girl could swallow at once. He did not try to hide it, in fact, he made a comment on it.

"You sure eat quite a lot, Petra-san. I'm not trying to be rude but...uhhh... Never mind."

"Dwnt hyshiteyt, shaeieet!" She replied, mouth full of potatoes. Quickly, she swallowed all of them and repeated herself in a more understandable language. "Uhh, I was going to say to don't hesitate, just say it!"

There was doubt in Armin's eyes, and his hands fidgeted nervously. "I'm sure this is going to make me display disrespectful behavior... Forgive me first, Petra-san!"

She downed another helping and cocked her head sideways. "Apology accepted... I guess?"

"Uh-um! So I was about to say... How someone... like you... Uhh with your... 'size' can eat that much, and so fast too... Argghh I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry! I-I wasn't trying to be rude or anything!"

Petra froze for a second, trying to process his words. Finally, she burst out laughing—and a few chunks of potatoes flew in every direction. She did not budge to clean up her mess, and said to Armin, "Hahahaha, of course someone my size can eat a lot! It's because I'm so short, I secretly still hope I can grow taller by eating much more. Not like that's going to happen though..."

Armin sighed in relief as he swiftly cleaned up the potato chunks in her stead. He knelt down to collect more pieces with a dirty and patched handkerchief. Without looking up, he said, "Phew, I-I'm glad you're not mad at me, Petra-san. I thought you'd get offended if I touch this topic..."

She giggled at the innocence of her junior. "It's okay, I'm quite okay with my height, actually. But I warn you, don't mention anything about heights in front of Corporal Levi. This is just between you and me but... He seriously has an extreme case of Napoleon Syndrome. Remember this, and you'll avoid from unecessary death glares. That man can get scary when offended, you see."

Not sure how to react, Armin remained silent for a minute or so. He did notice that Petra was rather knowledgable on the Corporal, but he was too timid to point that out. Even though Petra was one of the kindest and most considerate seniors of all, it was not enough of a reason for him to make unecessary comments. He was very conscious of his attitude towards his seniors. Being respectful is number one in his syllabus. In the end, he answered her with a simple nod.

"Just relax, Armin. Don't be so stiff." She said, re-assuring the cadet. "Trivial talks like this won't offend me in any way, in fact—I enjoy it a lot. At least it helps me realize there's still a bright side in living at this age."

"I-I see... Very well then... I-I guess—"

"Arlert. I need to talk." The muffled voice of a deep and mature female behind the door cut his sentence mid-way, and Armin immediately scurried off to identify this person. As the door slowly creaked open, it revealed the identity of the third person. A petite yet fierce-looking female with ash blonde hair and icy blue eyes glared at him, gesturing him to go outside. She bowed once at Petra before conversing with Armin outside. Petra could listen to a few words they were saying, but could not capture the whole conversation.

"Arlert, is Petra-san alright now? We're a bit short on manpower now, so you're going to help us once she's back on her feet."

"I guess she is, she looks healthier now. Should I leave her here or let her come with us?"

Annie Leondhart shrugged. "It's not up to me to decide. You can just ask her. The Corporal didn't say anything about this."

"Alright then, I'll go tell her now. Now excuse me, Annie." Armin said, disappearing into the room. A confused looking Petra was waiting for an explanation for him anytime now.

"What is it, Armin?"

"Aah, Annie said our group is short on manpower... So I'll go with Annie and let you rest here if you want to. Is it okay?"

"No no, let me come along!" Petra replied, instantly jumping off the bed. Her footing felt firm now and her body was in tip-top condition after resting for quite some time. "I feel fine now, so let me help! I can't slack off all day long. I'll go with you, Armin."

"Well, if you say so, Petra-san. Let's head out now. Don't hesitate to tell me if you feel fatigued, okay? I-I'll always be ready to help!"

Petra nodded, and she followed the lead of her slightly taller junior out of the house. The outside air for her was warmer than expected. She took of her Recon Corps jacket and tied the sleeves on her waist, before rolling up the sleeves of her blouse up to her elbow. She could feel the wind brushing against her arms, tickling the pores of her skin.

_I can't believe today's weather is really nice! _– She thought to herself, as she passed by a few houses. The houses in this block had the same exterior, except some were severely destroyed and some were still in mint condition. The direction she's heading to had houses in better conditions. She spaced out for a bit, enjoying the weather and the better side of the block—before Armin abruptly stopped in front of her.

"Woah!" She exclaimed, bumping the junior's back. His lean figure didn't handle the bump quite well, and Armin almost lost his balance.

"I-I'm sorry, Petra-san!" He turned around, bowing down to her a few times. "I didn't mean to do it!"

"It's okay! It's my fault for spacing out. So... Are we here?" She asked, gazing upwards. Outside, the two-storied house looked brand new. But who knew what the inside could look like. Petra winced at the thought of falling down from the hole earlier. _Not going to happen again, nope. _

"Yes, we are. U-uh so let's go then, the Corporal is waiting."

When the two entered the house, Annie and Levi were cleaning seperate areas in the house. Levi with the windows and Annie with the floors. Of course, Petra took notice of her childhood friend first and his obnoxious cleaning attire. Currently he's using a red bandana with mini flower prints on his head, and his mouth was covered using a radiant yellow cloth tied to the back of his head. What seemed to be a bright green apron also hung from his neck. The apron had small patchworks all over the place. This clearly made Petra ponder on his sense of fashion. This remained as a life long mystery for her. _He's good with titans, cleaning, but definitely not with what he's wearing... And not with me. Nope nope nope._

"Hey cadet, why did you bring Petra here?" Levi asked, finally taking notice of the pair entering the house. He shot a death glare at Armin, which clearly made him shiver down to his pants.

"I-I'm sorry sir! I-I thought...Uhh... U-uhhh..."

"It's not his fault, Corporal. I'm the one who asked to come here. Now that my body's back to normal again, I can't make excuses and slack off."

The Corporal seem to have wanted to argue, but he decided to take it back and stopped his lips from moving. He just grunted and gave the two a disapproving look. "Suit yourself."

Without further ado, Petra grabbed spare cleaning equipments and resumed with her 'duties' as an officer. The Corporal and her did not exchange words at all, except if he was to order the group to move into a different room or on to the next house. Time passed by as the group continued their cleaning and later in the evening, cooperate with the soldiers allocated to fixing physical damages within the houses. Their jobs was halted when dusk finally came, hiding their main source of illumination beyond the dark clouds. It's rather difficult to clean corners and only relying on the small, flickering lights from candles to see. Commander Pixis decided to resume this task tomorrow and let the soldiers rest for the night.

All the Recon Corps reconciliated in the spacious city center, where the supply team had prepared food on a rug extending from a corner to the other. On the rug was an array of freshly cooked meal, ranging from baked potatoes, roasted chicken and venison, to sauteed vegetables of all sorts. There were desserts on the further end of the rug, but most of them were fresh fruits and fruit cocktails.

The landscape ahead of them, filled with an abundance of food stimulated the hunger of all soldiers. Most of them went wild and even some led out war cries as they dashed towards their only source of happiness now. In the other hand, Petra was quite calm and stood at the sidelines as her fellow juniors scrambled towards the sight of food. Nothing else matters to them now, not even courtesy during meals with their seniors. Some of these people almost knocked her over, before a powerful arm slung over her shoulders and supported her weight. The sensation of it felt quite familiar. As Petra glanced sideways to see who it was, she was not suprised.

"Be careful, Petra. These midgets can be quite crazy."

_Aren't you shorter than most of them... _Petra commented, but kept it to herself. It'd be best not to let the lion out of the cage. "Thanks, Levi. I'm going to be careful next time."

Levi snorted. "Good. Let's go. I'm famished." He kept on walking without releasing his arms from her. She was rather reluctant and embarassed, but did not have enough courage to tell him that. At some point, she finally gave in to him and enjoyed warmth of the Corporal. People were looking at their direction, chattering and whispering as they do so. Despite his strict attitude and petite physique, this man was quite popular with the girls. Especially the ones that saw him engange in combat with the unruly titans. Indeed, his charm lies in his style of combat. Very swift and fierce. Not to mention he had excellent accuracy in pinpointing the enemies' weak spots in split seconds. Petra herself could not count the number of times she marvelled upon the skills of her team leader. It was of true brilliance in her eyes.

Petra stole a furtive glance at the Corporal, who did not have that much of a height difference compared to her—remained unfazed despite all these comments and gossips surrounding him. As if there was a wall to bounce off all these nonsense away.

She felt stupid for worrying about something as trivial as this. Instead of having too much negative thoughts, she let herself enjoy the Corporal's unsaid feelings and attention for her. After all these years of thinking her affection for him was only one way—it was proven wrong at this very day. Maybe the Corporal didn't have time for his emotions from hindering his duty as a soldier. Maybe today was the only day he had time to finally come clean. Not as the Corporal of the Special Operations Squad, but as a person named Levi.

The two found a spot quite far from the desserts section, and Levi went to grab some main course. He came back minutes later with two plates filled with seasoned tomatoes, baked potatoes and four roasted chicken thighs. Petra had always loved chicken thighs, especially the ones cooked by their own supply team. They can always get humongous chicken meat and they always had this tender texture.

"Thanks! I always loved their chicken thighs. Glad you could take some of them, Levi." Petra said, accepting a plate from him. Levi smiled and sat down beside her, legs crossed.

"I know you always liked it. That's why I took them for you." He said, without looking at Petra. It was weird to see him without any cover-ups on being kind. Really. She was not one to say anything flattering in return, so in the end she did not know what to reply. Any of them didn't seem to initiate a conversation, until the two finished their meals. Trying to muster her courage, Petra went for the first move first.

"So, Levi... Umm. I-I want to thank you on what you did earlier. For helping and taking care of me when I pass out. W-well I may have said this already and I don't think it's a big deal for you, but I just have to. So I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Levi."

"It's natural to help your subordinates, Petra. And especially if that subordinate is you." He replied without looking at her. In split seconds, her face turned cherry red and buried her blushing face inside her cupped hands.

"D-don't say that kind of thing so easily with such a straight face! It's embarassing, you know! Especially when you've always been cold to me and to everyone all these years! How should I know that y-you...Y-you!"

She expected another reply using his usual cold and flat tone, but what came out from his mouth was unexpected. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I come across as a cold person to you for the past couple of years we were in the Special Ops Squad. I had to keep it professional. To be honest, I've been trying to reach you ever since my family suddenly moved out from our old neighbourhood."

"Then why? Why didn't you try to find me? I was the one who indirectly came to you after years!" Petra's voice came out muffled. But the shakiness of it was evident. The Corporal glanced at the sight of his childhood friend quivering, and could not take it anymore. He brought her under his arms. Levi stroked her back softly, as if he was trying to re-assure her on this matter. "I did. I did try to find you. That's the first thing I did when I moved to this new place—is to find my way back to where I belonged. No, where we belonged. But somehow my parents played every cards possible in order to stop me from seeing you. And you know why, right?"

Releasing her hands off her face, Petra decided to rest on Levi's chest. She could listen to his rapid heartbeat thumping against her ear, loud and clear. "I'm glad that you're telling me this, and yes, I do. That dispute between our fathers. Isn't the issue on my dad thinking that your dad is stealing money from him?"

Levi nodded. "Yes. Even though it was a fraud. Trust me, it was."

"I know, I know." She chuckled dryly. "By the way, I wanted to confirm something with you. Is it true that before Erwin recruited you, you were a famous thug in the underworld?"

The Corporal had this sour look for a second, before replying, "What if I was?"

"Then I'll have to accept that part of you. Whatever happens in the past stays in the past. Right, Levi?" She flashed a smile at him. _That took every inch of courage I have left. Oh boy._

Instead of a silent reply, Levi ruffled her hair and said, "Well, that's something you would typically say back then. Glad to know you haven't changed, Petra."

Her heart skipped a beat. A thousand beats, even. This level of affection was way too much for her to handle. Nevertheless, she was trying to accept this completely different side of Levi. A side that was specially reserved for her. Petra gave him a suprise cheeky look, and he immediately averted his eyes away. Levi apparently did not want her to see his flustered face, which she found extremely adorable.

"I wish I could say the same for you but... I don't remember you being like this back then. You were nice, but nowhere near this. And don't mention your attitude towards me when I just joined the Recon Corps... Ahahaha! What's with the sudden change, Levi?"

"Do I need to have a reason?" He grunted.

What was about to follow after this was definitely the highlight of her evening—no, of her life. The Corporal bent down and abruptly pressed his lips against hers. It was warm and somehow tender at the same time. Petra wanted to reach out for more as their lips parted, but she held herself back. _Let's just leave it at this. Let's. _

"Corporal," She said. "You have just slashed through the nape of my neck. You make me _fall _for you, Corporal Levi."

"That's a really lame pun, Petra. And I won't compare you with those ugly creatures." He smiled dryly at her. "But well, I can take that as a compliment."

The female with short, copper brown hair couldn't help it but laugh at the sight of her leader in this state. Him taking the initiative, him being flustered, him trying to blurt out some cheesy lines—simply adorable. Nothing on this planet can compare with this man.

"By the way Levi... That was my first, you know."

"I'm not suprised. It was mine too."

"Eh? Really?!"

"What do you expect?" He shrugged. "Can you see me as that person who goes around to flirt with girls?"

Petra pondered for a split second. "No, I guess not..."

Levi pulled her in even tighter and whispered, "As your Corporal, I order you to remain by my side as long as I am still alive. Do you copy me?"

"Roger, sir. You don't have to ask—I'd be glad to."

_-THE END-_

_**Author's Comments**_

FINALLLYY THIS SERIES IS OVER! Thank you all for the support so far from people who helped me in making this possible, I appreciate it so much! To Miru, Picchan, Utsu, Risa, ilu all ;^;

Since episode 22 was still fresh in everyone's mind, I thought I'd finish this quickly to relieve y'all from your grief. So here's a relief story for you Rivetra fans (including me;;) who will never get to see your OTP become canon orz ;_;

Umm so I thank you all once more for reading this fic, and tune in for more stuff from me! Cheers /o/


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